U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,041 shows a wire jig which is capable of holding a plurality of wires in side-by-side coplanar parallel relationship. Jigs of this type are commonly used in harness-making machines of the general type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,117. The harness-making machine of the latter U.S. patent comprises a conveyor having wire jigs secured thereto at spaced-apart intervals. A means is providing for feeding wires to the wire jigs at one station and as the conveyor is indexed, the ends of the wires held in the wire jigs are presented to wire processing machines such as connector assembly machines and insulation stripping machines. U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,117 also shows one type of jig in FIGS. 8A-8D which can be used on the harness-making machine.
Wire jigs of the type shown in the above-identified U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,372,041 and 4,380,117 comprise essentially clamps which clamp all of the wires in the array held in the jig. The processing machines, such as crimping machines or the like, which are used and form part of the harness-making machine must thus be designed such that they can perform operations on wires which are close together in side-by-side relationship with their ends in alignment. The number of operations and types of operations which can be carried out on wires in an array is therefore limited. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,041 suggests that all of the wires held in an individual clamp can be inserted into terminals in a multicontact electrical connector since it is commonly known to simultaneously attach the ends of wires to a plurality of terminals in a connector in the manner suggested in the patent. It is not, however, practical to perform an operation on an individual wire in the array held in a clamp because of the fact that the wires are close together with their ends in alignment.
The present invention is directed to the achievement of an improved wire jig which permits operations to be carried out on individual wires held in the jig without effecting the remaining wires held in the jig. Specifically, the invention is directed to the achievement of a wire jig which permits an individual wire to be selectively moved from the array of wires held in a jig so that its end is spaced fom the ends of the remaining wires. It then is possible to crimp a terminal onto the one wire without physical interference by the remaining wires in the jig.